June 30, 2018

The Posse

It's hard to believe that we actually sailed around Isle Royale when you know everything else we did--hike many miles on trails, bushwack along bedrock shorelines for hours, research and count hundreds of arctic disjunc t plants, cook and clean up meals, write daily (sometimes hourly) in journals, catch up on reading, play a few dozen rounds of cards or trivia or scattergories. One night they found the game where you put the plastic piece in your mouth and then try to say things....that night we had to hush them sternly at 11:30, and after that we all agreed that 10:30 would be lights-out, and no more reminders.

I call it the Posse Story because virtually everything was done together. Leif was the main orchestrator of inclusivity, and even managed to tease Lamar out of her shyness. Whatever they did, they did together. I felt guilty dragging one of them into the galley to cook, and they didn't pretend to like dishes, but there were certainly no complaints.

Being on watch presented a unique challenge, as they couldn't ALWAYS all be in the cockpit with the helmsperson! So they would retreat to the cabin, or occasionally the bow, to reform the posse, always one short, always one missing. They never asked to get out of a watch, though, knowing how sacred that is to the sailing rhythm. I like to think it gave them a short time to be alone with their thoughts, ready to rejoin the posse with extra fervor when the agonizing separation ended.